Historische Vereniging Texel

Jan Troublemaker, a remarkable Texel

Jan Pietersz Verberne was born in Den Burg in 1739 and baptized on March 16 of that year. His grandparents came from Peel in North Brabant around 1700. Grandfather was a peddler, cloth merchant and shopkeeper. He died around 1714 at the age of fifty, a wealthy man. He must have left more than 40,000 guilders to his wife and six young children. The widow moved to Amersfoort with three children. Three sons remained on Texel. Jan (1694-1767) became a farmer and lived in Weverstraat (at no. 80 as shown in the censuses of 1742 and 1750); Jelis (1705-1773) became a “dyer of clothes” as was mentioned in 1750. (So probably not a house painter as van der Vlis mentioned in ‘t Lant van Texel). Uncle Jelis was also a shopkeeper and lived in the Hogerstraat no. 251. Father Pieter (1708-1751) was called a dyer. He lived and worked in the Gasthuisstraat with house number 240, later 241, while his barn was number 231. Father Pieter married Pietertje Pieters Deij in 1731, who died in 1735 at the age of 26, leaving behind a daughter, who also died young. In 1736 he remarried Antje Simons Ran, the second daughter of a barge skipper son from this marriage. When Jan was twelve years old his father died and when he turned fourteen his mother also had two guardians, his uncle Jelis and one older cousin Dirk Cornelisz Zijm (1715-1769). Like his older ones Jan’s brother Jacob then became a sailor. Jacob, who eventually became captain of the ship Catharina, remained at sea between 1790 and 1795.

* Locatie van de “Kneppelbuurt”

De term Kneppelbuurt (ook wel: Knippelbuurt) is een oude benaming voor wat tegenwoordig bekendstaat als de Schoolstraat, vlak voor de kerk in Den Burg.
Dit blijkt uit een reisverslag waarin staat: “De Schoolstraat werd vroeger de Kneppelbuurt genoemd omdat daar, in de tijd van de kermis, het koekknuppelen plaatsvond.”
Source: JTravel

Dat betekent dat de oude Kneppelbuurt gelijkstaat aan de Schoolstraat, gelegen direct vóór de (voormalige) school en kerk in het centrum van Den Burg.

Jan Pietersz also became captain. He sailed as owner on the frigate ship “Het Fortuyn”, which was built in 1772. It was 86 feet long, 26½ feet wide and on board were six guns placed. In 1789 probably the last trip of Jan Pietersz. He made another trip to the Mediterranean (destinations Naples and Venice). He was 50 years old and had his son Pieter (1769-1858) as helmsman, the boatswain was Jacob Smit, Pieter Ottens sailed as a carpenter and the sailors were Gerrit Dijker and Simon Graaf. His nickname is reminiscent of noise, noise, arguments and trouble, while making waves sounds the most innocent. Jan Trammelant has had many difficulties in his 75 year life. He did not avoid it and his material prosperity did not suffer as a result.

Being a captain in foreign ports and driving a ship in the French period was far from easy. At the age of 25 he married (24-7-1764, tax 12,-) a 17-year-old girl Martje Burger (1747) and the family went to live in Oudeschild, where they bought a house in 1773 for 760 guilders. Four children were born in his family 1789 the successor as captain of the frigate, which was probably sold in 1795 due to malaise in the seafaring industry. Pieter then went to live in Amsterdam.

Second son Cornelis (1770-1827) was a Jack of all trades as well. He later became a wholesaler of spirits and wines, but was also a farmer. Third son was Willem (1773-1827) and he was versatile. Sailor, barge skipper, trader in coffee, tea, tobacco and groceries, but also tapper. In 1831 he became a teacher at Oost, where he also gave nautical lessons. He bore the nickname “Willem Limoen”. He probably owed this to getting lemons from the Levant or Greece. He passed on his education to his son Pieter (1807-1881), who ran the best private school in Texel had, first in the Weverstraat and later in the Zwaanstraat, which was called the Franse Pad in 1853, because French was his strongest side. It is therefore not surprising that he was called Meseu. In 1775 the youngest son Simon was born. In 1790, Jan Trammelant bought from his brother-in-law Jan Cornelis Burger, who had reached financial ruin, a new octagonal flour and peeling mill with yard, a few peeling stones and a few flour stones, west of Den Burg for 4,500 guilders. . The mill was located at the Beatrixlaan corner of Keesomlaan and was named Zeemanslust. (Demolished after 1907, when a great-grandson sold land, buildings and yard of 11. are 50 c. a for 790 guilders). In the meantime he had bought a house and a barn from his brother in the Gasthuistraat, probably the house where he was born. The family moved from Oudeschild to Den Burg and it was not until 1793 that the house in Oudeschild was sold.

In 1791 Martje Cornelis Burger passed away when she was 34 years old. She’s probably buried in the grave purchased that year in the Dutch Reformed Church in Den Burg, number 108. On January 20, 1792, he remarried out of community of property with Martje Jans Smit, 39 years old, already twice widowed, but she had no children. Jan Trammelant had also gradually become a large landowner because between 1773 and 1802 he bought more than 108 hectares of land with at least two farms. To this he also owed his position as Head Inland of the 28 combined polders. He remained on the polder board until 1812 and then resigned at the age of 37. The turbulent times of the Princes and

Patriots were experienced and experienced by him and his sons from a distance. The only position Jan accepted was that of an elected member of a committee tasked with drawing up lists of officials who had been guilty of plunder, oppression or other crimes. That had to be sorted out in 1795. From this it can be seen that he and his sons were cautious patriots.

In 1793 the family was involved in a street riot on Sinterklaas evening, where the fancy dress party was still held on December 5, but this was prohibited at the time. Son Simon had disguised himself in a sheepskin (or something else of equal roughness), a high hat on his head and a stick in his hand when he was arrested by a bailiff in the Hogerstraat (but not recognised). When the second police officer and a large crowd had arrived, a fight ensued during which son Cornelis kicked one of the officers so hard in the shin that blood ran. The officers fled and disappeared into the house of one of the two, Adam Kalf in the Hogerstraat.
A little later father Jan Pietersz and son Cornelis entered that house to ask why the officers had hit Cornelis. After the bailiff showed his injured leg, the Verbernes disappeared without further comment. On January 16, 1794, Cornelis was interrogated and the sheriff demanded imprisonment, but this was rejected by the aldermen. On June 26, 1794 the case came up again and the sheriff demanded 25 years of banishment from the island of Texel for providing assistance to a disguised person who was able to escape.

The aldermen’s verdict was €25, a fine, against which Cornelis appealed and the further course of action is unknown. In 1800 Cornelis stood before the court again, but now as a witness and victim of Gerrit Simonsz Boon van Den Hoorn. Boon had drunkenly entered the Warmoesstraat house, now number 2. Cornelis, who was now married, had a liquor wholesaler there. Boon thought he needed more drink, but with the help of brother Willem and the law, Cornelis managed to overpower Boon. He was immediately imprisoned and his final sentence was two weeks on bread and water. On June 28, 1810, Jan Pietersz became a widower again when

Martje Smit died. Her estate was described in detail. This included, among other things, a rented house with yard in the Knippelbuurt* in Den Burg. (Question: who knows where that was?) The gold earring was not missing, nor were 16 paintings, gold, silver and 30 skirts, 400 rods of land and a trap then had a sixteenth part in a pilot barge.

Jan Trammelant’s activities did not end yet. He could quietly leave the work in the mill to his son Simon, who also traded in grain. He had his home on the corner of Molenstraat and Keesomlaan. When Jan was still in Oudeschild, he had already interfered in church affairs. 

In 1785 there was a push for the foundation of its own church and he was in favor of that. He did not experience the result because that church dates from 1829. In 1804 he was elected to the board of the Roman Catholic Church. Church. Three church wardens then had complete material management, not only of Den Burg, but also of the secondary churches in Den Hoorn, Oosterend, Oudeschild and (until 1811) in De Koog. Jan was President of the Church several times. A separate story can be written about the problems he experienced. 1814 was one of the most turbulent years in history, including that of Texel. It was therefore the last year of the life of Jan Trammelant, a wealthy and renowned man, who died quite suddenly on November 14 at the home of his son Cornelis. On November 19, 1814, grave number 108 in the Dutch Reformed Church was opened again and he was buried here.

C.J. Reij

Sources: Verberne family book.

Dijt Texel genera
and Crime and Punishment.
N.T.C. etc.